stephen and i drive around and meet needs all evening.

we visit bremen and have an informal meeting about a new word for that one word that makes all the sisters mad.

doctrine and covenants 1:38

my roommate nate and i visit one of his sheep at our apartment.

as shepherds, we walk her home together.

my counselors bremen and stephen follow up with the other shepherds on their sheep.

mosiah 5:8-9

brother webb and i visit a brother from the quorum together.

and we have so much fun.

mosiah 3:5-8

i chat online with a sister from the ward who doesn't want to hang out with me tonight.

so i go needs meeting.

if you're looking for a time to go needs meeting when everyone is home, try saturday evening.

i stop by two apartments on my way to the store to buy needs meeting rewards, and all the members are home: one of them is just waking, one of them is sleeping, and one of them is showering.

my roommate rich is moving out on saturday, and i need a new roommate.

i pray that the lord will send somebody in his place.

a brother who attends the quorum and may be baptized soon calls me about filling the space.

i meet needs and walk home from fhe simultaneously.

the inwood 3rd ward elders quorum meets for the 63rd time.

nathan shares an inspirational thought about the sanctity of the body.

brother turley from the high council comes to our quorum to release clay and corey as elders quorum counselors and to sustain and set apart bremen and stephen.

i'm so grateful for great counselors.

clay, bremen, and stephen bear their testimonies.

bremen says that, as a reporter, he stays out of the limelight, observes, and asks questions when necessary.

"i'm grateful to the savior for making me who i am," he says humbly.

"why wouldn't i want to serve a bunch of guys who give me black eyes?" stephen wisecracks.

we have a great presidency meeting that lasts about an hour. i usually try to limit them to a half. fun makes time fly.

stephen shares moroni 9:6: we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of god.

with so little time left, i feel the urgency.

my new counselors are incredible. i dig their ideas about redeeming the dead and sharing the gospel. and they offer to help me with needs meeting.

i go home briefly and leave quickly to visit one of the brothers.

on my way home, collin calls me and tells me a brother who has been visiting our ward is going to get baptized.

on the last sunday of the month, i ask the shepherds to send me their needs meeting adventures by midnight. i receive three emails and one call.

i love my calling.

ecclesiastes 3:1-3

i feel my savior's love at sheila's baptism.

her friend alejandro baptizes her. it's a beautiful service: short and sweet.

after the baptism, tamara comes with her camera and norris and jennifer come with their fountain.

and we shoot a lingo short with a needs meeting product placement. nate, peter, and stephen from the quorum make cameo appearances.

when i get home, i send some elders quorum emails and chat online with a babe from the ward.

she doesn't want to hang out with me tonight, so i go needs meeting on my way to the store to buy needs meeting rewards.

i buy 120 tiny candy bars: one for each one of the sheep whose needs we met last month.

2 nephi 31:20

i plan to go to the temple only once a week.

my plans change frequently.

i know of no gatherings tonight, so i go to the temple again. i do eight initiatories.

on friday nights, i need social interaction. there's always action at harleman halls. so i visit friends there until well after midnight.

mosiah 2:17

i go to my gig at the manhattan temple on elders quorum temple night.

for the first time this year, i'm the only brother from my quorum there. i miss the other brothers who sometimes come.

i see some sisters from my former ward, so those familiar faces sweeten the session in which i follow.

after the session, i enter the celestial room and read abraham 3.

i reflect upon how the lord prepared me for my elders quorum calling in the two years leading up to it. i realize i serve with some of the noble and great ones.

i leave the celestial room last. the lights are out in the temple lobby when i leave the building.

i go to vinnie's to eat pizza. for the last few weeks, i've left a quarter and a pass-along card in the tip jar.

they hang one of the pass-along cards on the wall.

abraham 3:22-23

i used to go to the manhattan temple on tuesday or wednesday to perform ordinances for the dead.

with so little time left to serve the living members of my ward, i decide to focus on the living this year and to focus on the dead next year.

i still commit to go to the temple every week this year.

tonight i try to visit a brother in the quorum who is in the hospital, but visiting hours are over when i arrive.

i tell the security guard i'm a member of this brother's ward family. i tell him i came all the way from 14th street.

he tells me i'm too late. i've never heard that before.

i write a note on a pass-along card, and someone comes and offers to deliver the card for me.

i give the security guard a book of mormon pass-along card.

"call this number, and they'll bring you this book," i tell him.

it's cold, and i want to go home. but i need to meet needs, and i want to visit all my needs meetees before sunday.

i visit a brother who was baptized into another ward around the time i was called as elders quorum president.

i visit him every month, sometimes in the hall outside his apartment.

he tells me about his big new gig.

i share an inspirational thought, and we pray.

he always appreciates my visit, and he always says he'll come to church the next sunday.

but he never comes.

i have served as the elders quorum president of the inwood 3rd ward of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints since november 28, 2004.

i love my calling.

i have only 11 months left to live in my quorum and in my ward.

i want to make a record of my last days in the best elders quorum.

1 nephi 1:1